


Sing with hope and the fear will be gone

by getupandgo2011



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Character Study, F/M, Gen, Post-RotJ, Pre-TFA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 00:36:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5722999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/getupandgo2011/pseuds/getupandgo2011
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"In the time between the Empire falling and the First Order rising, they spend many years together, the three of them."</p>
<p>The years after Return of the Jedi and before The Force Awakens</p>
<p>(Spoilers)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sing with hope and the fear will be gone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [politicalmamaduck](https://archiveofourown.org/users/politicalmamaduck/gifts).



> For the lovely politicalmamaduck on her birthday, the 15th of January! 
> 
> My first work on AO3 and my first in the Star Wars fandom. 
> 
> Title from 'So ist es Immer' from the Attack on Titan soundtrack

In the time between the Empire falling and the First Order rising, they spend many years together, the three of them. 

*  
Leia Organa, strong and beautiful princess, has become the face of the Rebellion, sought after for trade alliances by every government in every system. In those moments, surrounded by documents and eager eyes, she remembers the planet she had called home for so long- the family, the people, taken away with a single push of a bright red button- knowing that, in order to keep the galaxy peaceful, she will have to rebuild every single brick she has lost during this fight with the Empire, and show everyone what she is capable of. Leia will not be pure hearted or wild tempered as she had been in her youth, nor will she become the icy leader it would be so easy to be. She is a princess of a lost world, one that will never be forgotten, their sacrifice remembered. She will be a General to the New Republic.

*  
Luke Skywalker, the last of the Jedi, has only one goal. To rebuild the Jedi into their former glory, to return their own brand of peace to a universe destroyed by the Sith and the Empire. Memories of his father, the late Anakin Skywalker who had for so long terrorised as Darth Vader, haunt him as he begins this process. The knowledge that in order for this to work, there will have to be limitations (rather than his own training, confusing and mostly self taught) as to what his pupils can learn about the Dark Side. No more children will be taken into the Dark by men like the Emperor, or as broken as his father had been. The temptation will be within every single soul that has the Force, he will have to lead them away from the darkness with a gentler hand than that of the generation before him.

*  
But for Han Solo, he is lost within the world of democracy and military order for longer than he will ever admit out loud. He has always been a wanderer, content with his ship and his furry crew mate with a tendency to scream if things go wrong, and selfish to the core. This war has changed him, the months lost to the carbonite had stolen so much that for the longest time he has felt adrift. He no longer craves the isolation of before. Can't bear to be seen as selfish in the way he had been. The Falcon and just the company of Chewie aren't enough to complete him now. Han wants Leia- and now he knows she wants him back too, he feels like he did the first time he flew at light speed- and the life she is offering (maybe a family, maybe just the ability to do what he wants). He wants to see Luke, his brother in every sense, rebuild the Jedi and witness first hand the children who are taught the skills. And so Han stays, never regretting. 

*  
The years pass by.  
Soon enough, children of a free generation are being taught the stories of the Empire and how they had been defeated by a group led by a Jedi, a princess and a smuggler. It will be years before Han, Leia and Luke fade into legend but already people stare at them with no small amount of idolization glittering in their eyes. Planets begin the process of separating themselves from what remained of the decades of terror at the hands of Darth Vader and the Emperor. A long and lengthy process, difficult to unlearn what most had been born with, yet the smiles on people's faces at the end of the day is worth the effort.

*  
“I have gathered you all here today for a very simple explanation,”  
Leia's voice booms across the crowded receiving room, where politicians of every race and possibility linger, speaking amongst themselves. They all go silent at her words. Leia Organa- in the three years since the collapse of the Empire- has became formidable, barely needing the support she has gained from regions to deliver her message of peace. Leia lets her dark, careful eyes wander around the room, seeking out only two faces for comfort amidst the crowd. Luke's is the first she catches, his smile is not the beam it had once been- becoming a Jedi Knight had taken most of his youth swiftly- but the support and love that comes through the Force is enough. Han's eyes- he lurks in the shadows closest to the door, hand on his blaster as if everyone is an enemy- are burning with pride as he watches, lips lifted ever so slightly. The single minded arrogance of a smuggler has faded into something more gentle, caring, than the man she had first known. Her equal in every way.  
“My family is not who you believed them to be. I am the twin sister of Luke Skywalker, last of the Jedi. I was the daughter of Senator Amidala. And my father was Darth Vader himself.”  
The absolute hell that breaks out upon the words leaving her mouth will go on for hours. Chewbacca will shove his way through the crowd to defend her from the insults thrown in her direction, howling and waving his blaster at anyone who comes too near. Luke simply stands serenely at her side, having climbed the steps as soon as she was finished. He doesn't seem to be deeply affected by what the politicians of the systems have to say about him.  
“I have never been so proud of you.”  
Han says when he finally reaches them, grabbing her tightly in his arms once he finally reaches the centre of the room. She grins into his chest, not minding the hateful criticisms thrown in her direction as long as she has him with her. 

*  
Eight years after the collapse, Han Solo and Leia Organa marry in a quiet ceremony attended only by the couple's closest friends and relatives. Luke Skywalker, bearing the lightsaber of his father and surrounded by the first of his students, smiles from behind his family. The sky above them in Corellia is the brightest it will be for the next four months- a sign, some say, of the good in the hearts of the New Republic- with a single, twinkling star that makes Luke beam in the direction of his sister dancing with her new husband. (The party will last for no longer than seventeen days, Han spends three alternating between looking like the happiest man on Earth and quietly vomiting into the nearest potted plant.)

*  
What follows, at first, seems to be following the path that been laid out by the return of the Jedi Order. The birth of Ben Solo is massively celebrated throughout the galaxy, ambassadors from far and wide come to give their praise to the first of a new generation. He is the pride and joy of his parent's eyes for the first three years of his life. Ben grows up in a time of peace, with a family who loves him. Chewbacca takes to carrying him around on his hairy shoulders, the smaller boy screaming to anyone who will listen that he is a king. The Skywalkers soon befriend the Dameron family, Ben grows up alongside their young son Poe. Everything, for a while, is fine.

Ben Solo begins training to become a Jedi the day after his sixth birthday, starting later than those in the original Jedi order. He is the nineteenth of twenty-nine new Jedi Padawans. His gift is nothing short of extraordinary, talent overwhelming even to his uncle.  
It is not long before Luke senses something in the boy that is so much like Vader he is left breathless. Leia's eyes become older and more worried, she begins dedicating herself more forcefully into her work as a general. Han disappears back into old habits, smuggling for illegal trades and stealing things he shouldn't be. 

*  
Ben Solo becomes Kylo Ren.  
The First Order rises.  
And that is the beginning.

**Author's Note:**

> This came out much darker than I anticipated, I'm still quite proud though. 
> 
> You can find me at royaldurins on tumblr!


End file.
